Believe Me
by Evx
Summary: Who would you believe if your world was turned upside down? Who would you go to when things change in an instant? This isn't just a sob story, no, you're going against something and there's a risk. "How could I believe you?"


**Enough to be called a reveal fic but not the main focus. Or at least not in the way you're thinking of.**

It was supposed to be a normal day.

It sure started off normal. A regular school day where he joked around with Nino, Alya nudging Marinette about something as Marinette turns scarlet, Chloé throwing herself on him and getting frustrated when he manages to slip out of her grasp, and everything else in between. After school, he was taken to his normal fencing practice.

Though practice ended much earlier than it usually does, it wasn't anything to be considered out of the ordinary. Instead, he just decided to go home early and get the rest of the activities his father wants to be done earlier than normal so he can have more time to do what he wants.

It was a normal day even when he came home and no one came to greet him. He wasn't expected home this early and he knows that it'll be a bit before his bodyguard actually realizes that he's not at fencing practice anymore. But that normal day changed as he was walking up to his room.

" _I don't know what I have to do. They keep foiling my plans!"_

Adrien knows that frustrated angry tone anywhere. It's his father ranting once again to most likely Nathalie. He knows he should just continue on his way and let his father continue speaking in private. But he hasn't heard his father this upset in quite some time. It made him curious as to what his father could be so upset about.

And you know what they say about curiosity.

So instead, he decided to stay by the door for a bit longer reasoning that it couldn't hurt to try and figure out what his father is upset about. Besides, who knows this might involve or affect him.

" _I try over and over but those two brats keep getting in my way."_

What two brats? Is someone messing with the company?

" _Maybe you should try a different approach then sir. It could throw them off."_

Now Adrien knows for sure that it's Nathalie his father is speaking to. But who are they trying to throw off? Why would they have to throw anyone off in the first place? His father is pretty resourceful and has many ways to get what he wants. What approach has he tried already?

" _Yes, but what? What would catch them by surprise? What would make the ever prepared Ladybug falter?"_

Ladybug? Why would they be talking about Ladybug? Why is he trying to catch her by surprise? What could he possibly want to do that involves Ladybug getting in his way?

A turning feeling reaches his stomach and he feels like he's not going to like the answers of those questions. He begins to play with his rings as he tries to think of a logical explanation to give him an answer but his mind isn't giving him anything at all.

" _Well, previous times show that she only ever falters when it involves a non-akumatized civilian, such as a student. When she falters so does Chat Noir."_

Adrien's breath stops in his throat as if even breathing too loud would alert them that he's eavesdropping. And though part of him is screaming to walk away so he can stay ignorant, a greater part of him is saying that he can't afford to be.

" _Of course, I know that. But somehow they always seem to figure a way to get around that. The closest she's ever been to giving up her_ _Miraculous was when Adrien was in danger with Volpina but even then her precious little sidekick came to her aid like the loyal cat he is."_

His father's comment about Chat Noir cuts him. Not only can he hear the dislike he has for him but he belittles him as if all he is is a pet to Ladybug. Sidekick he called him. Not her partner but her sidekick.

But, pushing his hurt feelings aside, how does his father know that Volpina used him to bait Ladybug? How does he know that she almost gave up her Miraculous? That wasn't on any news report, not even Alya knew those details and she knows how to get information. How does his father know?

" _There just has to be a way to win; I won't lose to a pair of kids. Even if I have to akumatize every Parisian there is, I'll get those Miraculouses."_

Miraculouses? Did his father just say he wants Ladybug's and Chat Noir's Miraculouses? Did he just threaten to akumatize people in order to get them? But that wouldn't make any sense. Why would he say something like that? He has nothing to do with them? What good is their Miraculouses to him? How does he even know about them?

A bunch of questions storms Adrien's head and it feels like the wind is getting knocked out of him. He wants to take a seat. There are too many questions but they all have one answer, one he doesn't like.

Gabriel Agreste, his father, is Hawk Moth, the very villain that has been causing trouble throughout Paris for far too long now.

It couldn't be. His father couldn't possibly Hawk Moth. His father was akumatized himself. Hawk Moth wouldn't turn his own power against himself, would he? Why would he need to be a villain? Why would he want their Miraculouses? Why would he put innocent people in harm's way?

Emotions he can't ever recall feeling begin to rise within him and they feel suffocating. He can't even identify what they are but he knows he doesn't like them.

' _This is all just a big misunderstanding that's it. I just heard wrong. All I have to do is ask him and he'll clear it up easily.'_ He thinks to himself.

Before he can think against it, a shaky hand begins to push the door open.

His fears only grow as his father turns to him with a surprised look. Even Nathalie, who is usually composed, shows surprise on her face.

"Adrien, what are you doing here, you're supposed to be at fencing. Don't tell me you skipped your lesson," his father says, the frustrated tone seeming to turn to him.

That tone would have once scare him into submission but now doesn't faze him. All it does it push him to further want the truth from his father.

"Practice finished early today. I decided to come home to get started on my work. Father, what were you talking about?" Adrien asks.

His tone is even and without any emotion. He stares his father down, not caring about the look he is receiving in return.

"Were you listening to my conversation? What did I tell you about listening to conversations you are not a part of?" Gabriel scolds.

Adrien ignores the scolding though and starts moving closer to him.

"What were you talking about?" He repeats.

His father's jaw clenches at his son's persistence.

"I asked you a question Adrien. Why were you listening to my conversation? What did you hear?"

"I also asked you a question father. What were you and Nathalie talking about? Why are you not answering my question?" Adrien counters.

Nathalie steps forward and puts a hand on Adrien's shoulder.

"It's time you go to your room Adrien and begin practicing your piano," she says.

He shakes her hand off of him and doesn't turn his gaze away.

"What do you want with Ladybug and Chat Noir's Miraculouses? What do they do, why do you want them?" He asks.

His father looks surprised at him and it's all the answer he needs. It gives him the evidence that he didn't want.

"Are you Hawk Moth?"

The question hangs heavy in the air. It's as if the air itself froze and the words could be seen in the air.

It takes a moment for a response of any kind to come. But it does come and it comes with force.

"How-how dare you ask me such a thing? Do you know what you're asking?!" His father begins to shout, getting closer to Adrien.

Adrien doesn't back down, however. He stands his ground with a look so calm it's worrying.

"You're Hawk Moth aren't you? Why else would you get so defensive? Why else would you talk about beating Ladybug? Is that what you've been hiding from me father? Is that why you are always so busy?" Adrien interrogates.

"Adrien, I think you have asked enough questions. We have things we must do, come along," Nathalie says, once again trying to reach for him.

This time, Adrien turns to her with sharp movements and a glare that could chill Hawk Moth himself, and he should know because it did.

"You've known. You've known all this time and you've been helping him. That's why you always managed my schedule so much. You've both have been hiding this from me," he hisses.

Nathalie tries her hardest not to show the effect of his cold tone and sharp glare, though it really sends a chill through her. Instead, she turns back to Gabriel with a look telling him to step in and control Adrien.

"Watch your tone young man or-"

"Or what?" Adrien snaps back, cutting off his father.

He doesn't know how or when but anger is rushing through him with a fury and ferociousness that he hasn't even felt as Chat Noir. It's as if he can feel his body practically shaking from the anger that is within him.

"Tell me why. Tell me why you do such things? Why would you harm people? You put lives at risks. You've hurt innocent people. You've hurt my friends. You've hurt ME! Why? What's so important that people's safety means nothing to you, that my safety means nothing to you?"

His words are almost shrieked as he tries to wrap his head around this all. He's desperate for answers but he knows he'll just anger himself further. He wants to try and find some logic in all of this but he knows that there's no logic that can justify this.

Gabriel, seeing that his son's attitude is getting more drastic and frantic by the second, decides that yelling at him won't do anything but further the behavior. Instead, he must try a different approach. So he takes a deep breath and extends a hand out to him.

"Why don't we sit down and talk about this properly, son. I know that there seems a lot in the air right now and you're confused but believe me when I say I'll make it all clearer. Then you'll understand why," he says to his son.

But Adrien isn't buying the suddenly soft tone his father has. He knows what that is. It's the voice his father always uses when he wants to rope him back into being the perfect submissive son. It sounds as loving as Gabriel Agreste can be. It used to make him fall back in line so easily because it meant hearing his father's love for him. It used to calm him down.

It doesn't this time. This time, it adds fuel to the fire.

"No! I don't believe you. How could I believe you? You've been lying and hiding things for me for so long now. You've been pretending that you really care but all you care about are those damn Miraculouses," Adrien shouts in response.

"That isn't true, I haven't been pretending. You just don't understand but I know what's best for you. This is for the better and when I have what I want, then you'll see that this was right," Gabriel says.

Adrien guffaws incredulously almost as if what his father just said was truly funny. But anyone listening could plainly hear the anger and sarcasm in the laugh.

"Oh yes Father, using people's negative emotions and turning them into villains who tear apart Paris is truly for the better. Tell me, did you send those akumatized villains after me and my friends on purpose? Did you keep Chloé near me because you know that she's always ruining people's day and it made for easy targets? What else are you hiding?" He says provokingly.

His provoking works because at that moment, once the words leave his mouth, he feels the sting of a hand hitting his cheek. It happened so quickly, and along with the anger clouding his reflexes, he didn't even see it happening. All he knows is that his cheek stings and his father is looking at him with rage in his eyes.

"I tried to be kind but I'm finished with your little tantrum. This is not up for discussion and furthermore, you are grounded for eavesdropping in on my conversation and acting so rudely. You want to be childish and upset then you can do that here. I can see that those people you call friends are still having that negative impact on you. You won't be leaving this house until I get those Miraculouses or you learn to stay out of adult business," Gabriel says.

Adrien just looks his father in the eyes and with a snarl says, "I guess I'll be here forever then."

He storms out of the room and runs upstairs to his own. He slams his door with enough that could have damaged the hinges if they weren't so sturdy.

He begins pacing around his room.

"My own father is Hawk Moth. He's been hurting people and using them. He's been attacking Ladybug. He's been attacking me. He's mad at me for being upset at his actions. HE'S THE ONE WHO'S IN THE WRONG! He's been lying to me this entire time! Nathalie was helping him. She knew all about this!"

Staying still no longer feels like an option now that he is no longer in front of his father to shout his anger at. The person he's most upset at is the person he can't speak to.

' _This must be how his victims feel before they are akumatized.'_

The thought sends a shiver up his spine as he thinks about it.

Right now he is feeling the emotions that Hawk Moth preys on and uses to control a person. These are the emotions he loves to cause and manipulate.

The thought gets him to stop pacing.

What if this was on purpose? What if he purposely made him this angry for a reason? Being Hawk Moth is one thing but his responses to being accused is a different story. He knows his father well enough to know that the man can give a convincing lie through his teeth and no one would know. He could have easily lied to him, and though it wouldn't take away all of his doubts, it would have stalled him for a little. What if all of this was to anger him further?

The idea makes him sick to his stomach. The idea that he may be being manipulated by his own father right now is not a settling one. He has to do something about this.

He looks around the room, foot tapping with nervous angry energy. As his eyes land on the door for a third time, he finally gets an idea.

He begins to barricade his door with anything he can move. Anything that will help keep his door shut he puts in front of it. When he's done, he steps back to look at his work and then moves away from the door. He goes over to his shelf and breaks the picture frame holding a photo of him and his father. Their first and only family photo since his mother disappeared. He puts it in his shirt pocket.

"Plagg," he calls quietly.

His kwami somewhat hesitantly comes out from inside of his shirt and Adrien knows that he heard everything that just happened.

"I take it as you have an idea about this?" Plagg asks.

Adrien gives this flinching upturn of the mouth, another way of saying 'you could call it that',

"I need you to take me to Ladybug. I have to speak to her. You must know her kwami or something or I'm sure you've seen her from the few times we've de-transformed in front of each other," Adrien says.

This gets Plagg to fly out fully and stay at eye level with Adrien.

"Woah I can't tell you that. I thought you guys wanted to keep your identities a secret from each other. I'm sure your Lady wouldn't like if you went against her wishes. Besides, isn't it more dangerous if you found out her identity? You live with the enemy, he could use your knowledge against her," Plagg says.

Adrien half growls-half sighs as he runs a frustrated hand through his hair.

"I know that but the situation is different now. Now you have to take me to her because I know we don't have much time. It's urgent. I'll even get you a whole wheel of camembert if you just lead me to her right now," Adrien replies.

Plagg sighs and shrugs.

"Alright kid, but if Tikki yells at me for this I'm letting her know that this was your idea. I want that cheese though," he says.

Adrien doesn't even ask who Tikki is, if it's important he'll find out later. For now, he has to go talk to Ladybug.

It's not hard for him to escape his own room with the help of Plagg and Chat. Once he's on the ground and a bit away from his house, he de-transforms and begins his journey on foot.

He knows he only has a bit of time before someone goes and tries to call on him and they realize that he locked himself away, and eventually figure out that he ran away. He had to move quickly.

He doesn't pay much attention to where Plagg is telling him to go. He's more alert about if anyone is looking at him for too long or the gorilla looking for him. He wants to stay under the radar for as long as he can.

Eventually Plagg tells him that they're here and that's when he takes a second to notice his surroundings.

"Plagg, I told you to take me to Ladybug, not Marinette's parents bakery. I promise I'll get you everything you want but we don't have time for that now," Adrien groans at his kwami's actions.

Plagg makes a snorting sound.

"That's what I did kid,I took you to Ladybug. Come on, I know you can figure it out," Plagg responds.

Why would he take him to Marinette's parents bakery? Is there a girl in there that is Ladybug? How would he approach a customer and ask to speak to her without standing out too much?

He takes a peek inside and notices that it isn't very crowded inside. In fact, he doesn't see anyone who would match Ladybug's description. He knows she has to be somewhere near his age but so far all he sees are more adults than teenagers.

Why would Plagg bring him here if it doesn't look like anyone would be Ladybug?

He decides to enter fully to get a better look.

As he thought, there's adults of all kinds but not a single person Adrien would think could possibly be Ladybug.

"Hi there, it's nice to see you again."

Adrien turns his head to see Marinette's mom standing there with a smile.

"Oh hello Mrs. Cheng, I hope I'm disturbing the business or anything," Adrien replies.

She waves her hand at the response.

"Not at all dear, you're welcome any time. What brings you here, sweets or Marinette?" She says.

Adrien looks away as he tries to think of an answer. He can't exactly say that he's here looking for Paris' superheroine but he also doesn't have time for too much small talk.

He looks back up to make eye contact and as he does he takes in the similarities Marinette has to her mother. The dark short hair, sweet smile, soft eyes, they're so similar.

In fact it reminds him of…

It reminds him of _**Ladybug**_.

His mind throws this connection suddenly at him as if it was always there in the back of mind but he's only now noticing it. It knocks the wind out of him. Marinette has the same pigtails as Ladybug, same hair color, same height and size, same compassion and helping spirit. Every time Marinette was around Ladybug wasn't. Those times he had to fight by himself now make sense. How did he not notice this before?

That's why Plagg brought him here.

Marinette is Ladybug.

"Marinette. I'm here to see Marinette and it's really important. Is she available?" He says quickly.

The realization of it all brings back that nervous energy he had before but with a hint of excitement with it.

His classmate, his friend, is Ladybug. Or at least he's pretty sure she is. He hopes he's right. It would be amazing if he was.

"Yes, she's upstairs in her room working on some designs. I'm sure she wouldn't mind if you went up to see her," her mother says with a sly smile.

Adrien thanks her and heads upstairs as quickly as he can. He does know it's disrespectful to barge into her room, however, so he takes enough time call up to her before going up for respect sake.

"Uh hi Marinette, it's me, Adrien. Umm is it okay if I come in, it's really important," he says.

He hears a squeal and a loud thump in response. He thinks it's safe to assume that she fell of a chair or something in surprise. He wouldn't blame her if she did, he is here without any advance notice.

"One minute Adrien," she calls back.

He hears what sounds like her running around and grabbing things along with a few words coming from her. Eventually she gives him the okay to come in.

He walks up and enters her room and notices her staring at him with a nervous smile and cute red cheeks.

"Hi-hi Adrien, what brings you over? Not that I'm not happy that you're here. NOT saying that I was hoping I'd see you today or anything-"

He cuts off her rambling as politely as he can.

"Hi Marinette, I'm sorry for coming so suddenly but I have a really big question to ask you. You may not want to answer it and may even be mad at me but it's super important and I'll explain everything afterwards," he says.

Marinette seems to calm down at that and in turn looks at him with confusion and concern.

"Alright then, is everything okay? You seem kinda anxious," she says.

He shrugs in response, not wanting to say yes or no.

He's about to ask his friend if her alter ego is the same heroine he fights alongside and constantly flirts with. What if he's wrong and she's not Ladybug? Then she would ask him why he would ask that and why he is looking for Ladybug. He doesn't want to drag her into his problems if he doesn't have to.

But what if she is Ladybug? What if she gets mad at for finding out her identity? What if she doesn't like the fact that he's Chat Noir? What if she doesn't want to help him or doesn't trust him anymore after he tells her who Hawk Moth is? There's so many things that can go wrong with this one question.

Marinette watches as Adrien seems to have a conversation with himself. She figures it must really be a big question if he's looking this indecisive and unsure about it.

So when Adrien takes a deep breath, she knows he's a bit ready now.

But she wasn't ready for the question he asks.

"Marinette, are you Ladybug?"

For the second time today Adrien feels the air change after he asks a question about identity. Though not as tense and emotion filled as before, it still sends a weird feeling through him. Nervousness begins to outweigh the other emotions he's currently feeling.

It takes a second for Marinette to snap out the brief shocked trance she was just in. Her face turns shades of red he's never seen her turn.

"What did you just ask me?" She replies.

The sound of her breathing picking up and her stiff posture gives him the answer he was hoping for.

"I asked if you are Ladybug, my lady," he says, using the name Chat calls her.

He's hoping that the nickname will give her a hint as to why he's asking or at least calm her down a bit before she desperately tries to deny everything.

The nickname does have the effect he wanted. Her eyes widen as she begins to make the connection. He wonders if this is how he looked when he realized that Marinette is Ladybug.

"Chat?" She whispers in shock.

He nods and gives her a half smile in return.

"You're… how are you… why are you…. How did you- how did you find out?" She finally manages to get out.

"I asked my kwami to take me to Ladybug and he took me here. I'm sorry, I know we agreed to not to reveal our identities to each other but things changed and I just had to speak to you. It's urgent," he replies.

A moment passes when Marinette is able to compose herself, thankfully not too long. She straightens up and looks to him seriously just as Ladybug does to Chat. It's comforting in its own way. He really is dealing with his lady.

"What's wrong?" She asks him.

He sighs and pulls at his hair again. He can already feel the feelings he had back at home beginning to return to him as he recalls his situation. Talking with Marinette has already taken off some of the edge he had, her soothing effect never failing him, but he can still feel those emotions inside of him. He has to bite it down though. He has to keep it in check until he's done with what he has to do here.

"I found out something today. I…I found out who Hawk Moth is," he says.

"You did?! How? When? Who is he? Oh my god Adrien this is big news. If you know who he is then that means we have a leg up. Unless, he knows who you are. Shoot, does he know who you are? Did he catch you? Are you in danger? Maybe we should go to Master Fu, he would-"

"He's my father."

The words are mumbled and he says it during her ramble. He didn't really expect her to hear him but she did. She immediately stops talking and looks to him. Her eyes practically throw her emotions and thoughts at him. He doesn't really like that look but he knows it's everything but pity coming from her.

"Adrien I…" she fades out.

"Yeah I know. I wish I was speechless when I found out. I yelled at him, yelled to the point where he slapped me for it," he says, hearing how dejected his own voice sounds.

He hates how he sounds. He's not about to cry. No, far from it. He wants to shout, throw something, run all around Paris. In other words, he wants to do everything but cry. He's not sad. He's angry, confused, desperate, betrayed, but he doesn't think he's sad. So why does he sound so depressed?

"I guess I'm not so purr-fect after all. I couldn't even tell that the very person we were going against was living with me the entire time," he says with a pitiful chuckle.

This causes Marinette to frown.

"Don't do that. This isn't your fault in any way. No one would even begin to think that their parent was...was like that. Don't try to joke away your feelings, you're Adrien before you are Chat," she says, grabbing his hand instinctively.

She rubs a thumb over his hand in a soothing motion without thinking about it. It's just her natural reaction to want to comfort him.

But Adrien definitely notices it.

Marinette his good friend, who is the same heroine he's had the biggest crush on, is holding his hand and trying to comfort him. If he wasn't so filled with negative emotions he knows that part of him would be really freaking out right now. Between the discovery that he knew Ladybug out of costume this closely and the fact that she's comforting him, he would not know how to handle himself.

It's a shame that he can't go through the shock he would prefer to go through at this identity reveal. It's a shame Hawk Moth's identity is more of a shocker then him finding out who his lady is. He was hoping that the day they revealed their identities to each other would be a special day, a day of trust. He wanted it to be just right but now that's all out the door. Today threw everything out the window.

"Thanks. But that's not the only reason why I'm here. I need to ask you for a favor. I'm really glad that you're Ladybug, I feel much more comfortable because I know you would never let me down. I couldn't have asked for a better person," he says, offering a small smile.

Her cheeks tint red again and she gives a shy smile in return.

"What-what do you want to ask?" She asks.

He looks down to his shirt.

"Come on out Plagg," he says.

His kwami flies out from his shirt and over to Marinette.

"Hi, my name's Plagg. Do you have any camembert?" He says.

Marinette uses her free hand and begins to lightly scratch his head, holding back a squeal when he begins to purr.

"Hi Plagg, my name is Marinette. I don't have any currently but I'll remember to give you some in the future," she says.

Tikki flies out from where she was at this. When Plagg sees her, he immediately flies from Marinette and over to her.

"Hi Sugarcube, long time no see," he says.

"I told you not to call me that. I see you still like that smelly cheese," Tikki says.

She flies over to Adrien to introduce herself.

"My name is Tikki. It's a pleasure to meet you Adrien, I've heard a lot about you," she says.

Marinette blushes again and coughs loudly.

"ANYWAYS, what was the favor you wanted?" She says louder than usual to change the topic.

Adrien begins to mess with his ring.

He has a plan but he doesn't know how well it will work. It's risky, really risky, and requires him to have a lot of confidence and trust in Marinette and Ladybug. It's easy to say but he doesn't know how well he can carry that out.

But he doesn't have many other options and this one is the best one he has.

"I need you to hold my ring," he says.

This gets even Plagg to look at him in surprise.

"You want her to do what?" Plagg says.

Adrien takes his hand from Marinette's, and it seems this is when she finally realizes that she was holding his hand, and holds it out towards her.

"I'm going to give you my ring and I need you to take good care of it," he repeats.

"Why? You need your ring, what if Paris needs Chat Noir? What happens to Plagg if you take it off, won't he disappear? What if something happens to you?" Marinette responds.

Adrien hears the nervousness in her voice. He doesn't blame her; taking off his Miraculous especially after he just found out that his father is Hawk Moth sounds like a really high-risk move. It's sudden and unexpected.

But he has to do this.

"I'm just so _**angry**_ ," the accentuated words coming out of his mouth like he's never admitted to them before, "I have all these terrible emotions in me and I know it's only so long until I lose control of them because I just never learned what to do with them. Hawk Moth…my father knows strong negative emotions easily and loves to use them to get what he wants. I know he's going to try and use me," he says.

"You can't really believe that he would use you, right? He couldn't possibly do that, you're still his son. That means something to him doesn't it?" Marinette questions worriedly.

His extended hand clenches into a fist and he tries to bite down the rise of anger in him again.

"I wouldn't put my faith in that. Blood ties means nothing to him if it means he can get these Miraculouses. That's why I need you to hold mine. I can't have my Miraculous on me if and when he does. What if I become an akumatized version of Chat Noir and then he find out my identity? Do we really want to see what happens when Cataclysm is used for evil? I can't have this ring until after all of this is done," he says.

He tries to hold back the bile that is trying to slip into his words. It's not Marinette's fault that he's angry and he shouldn't take it out on her. The least he can do is stay calm around her.

He notices how she looks back and forth between him and his ring. He can tell that she's not too sure about this. She's not comfortable with the idea. But it's also clear on her face that she acknowledges his reasonings.

"Are you really going to let yourself get akumatized?" She finally asks.

It's a quiet question and he knows she already knows the answer. He knows that she's probably trying to come up with another idea but probably is failing to do so. She's worried and that means more to him than she knows.

"Who knows, he may just drag me off and lock me away instead but I'm still willing to take that chance. I need to know what's really going on and how far he is willing to go. I may be calmed down before he even gets the chance to send his akuma after me but I want to be prepared just in case," he responds.

"But what if he does akumatize you? What if he succeeds and you go attack Paris? You know my identity, what if he makes you tell him who we both of us are or something? I don't know about this," she says.

This time he grabs her hands in an attempt to comfort her. He squeezes her hands in reassurance.

"I know what we're risking. I know that I'm asking you to do something that you don't really want to do. I understand that this isn't a plan that either of us want but I have to do this. If he does akumatize me then I know that you'll save me. I trust Ladybug and I trust you Marinette. You always save me," he says, trying to look her in the eyes.

She stares downwards though, worry still etched deeply into her face.

"But what if I don't? What if I can't save you? I'm just Marinette, what if I can't beat you without Chat's help? What if I can't find where the akuma is in time? What if I'm just not enough to help you?"

Adrien knows that worry of not being good enough. Fighting next to Ladybug can do that to you, her good luck and smart thinking always being commended. Everyone loves Ladybug and it's so easy for Chat Noir to fall into the background. He had to hide his own doubts behind Chat's cocky persona and still has to sometimes. So he really understands what she may be feeling. He understands that she has her own doubts, that she may be afraid. There's so many things that can go wrong, so much pressure on her. He can't blame her being worried.

He moves one of his hands from hers and put it under her chin. He lifts her head gently so he can look her in the eyes. He sees her shyness return as she try not to make direct eye contact with him. If this situation wasn't so serious, he would probably be blushing red and saying some a cat pun to make her laugh. He'd give her a smile that would have her stuttering like she always seems to do. But because he can't do that now, he'll have to do this a different way.

"Those aren't even questions in my mind. I know you're good enough and I know you can save me. And you're not 'just Marinette'; you're amazing. I've seen what you do for others, as Ladybug and as Marinette. And I can tell you now, the akuma would be in the photo that's in my pocket so that's one less thing you have to worry about. If there's anyone capable enough to handle an akuma alone, it's you. Don't short change yourself, you're greater than what you're giving yourself credit for," he says.

She finally looks him in the eyes with a look of awe and timidity.

"You-you really think so?" She asks.

He gives her an honest nod and a half smirk that his alter ego always seems to carry.

"Of course I do. Would I ever lie to my Bugaboo?" he responds.

She finally lets out a small giggle. The sound is like a breath of fresh air to him, a sign that not everything is changing today.

"I don't think you would Kitty," she responds.

Though they're both joking a bit, they know there's truth in their words. Adrien could never think of lying to Ladybug and now thinking about it he isn't too ready to lie to Marinette either. Marinette knows and believes in this. Even though Chat is a major flirt, he always means the best for her.

They trust each other.

"So, will you do it?" Adrien asks her.

She looks to her kwami and they share a reassuring nod.

"I'll do it."

Both relief and weight come flood him at the same time. He's relieved that he has Marinette to count on to protect his Miraculous but it also feels like a weight has been added to his shoulders. What if this goes wrong? He doesn't know which feeling outweighs the other more both he feels both of them very strongly.

"I hope you know what you're doing. Don't stay away too long, who else will give me cheese?" Plagg says.

Adrien gives his kwami a fond look.

"Yeah, I'll be safe, you don't have to worry. Besides, Marinette will take very good care of us both," he replies.

Plagg nods and turns to Tikki.

"See you soon sugarcube," he says.

Tikki rolls her eyes but it's clear that it's all out of care.

"I'm sure you will," she replies.

Adrien takes a deep breath and slowly takes off his ring. At the same time, Plagg begins to disappear and is soon gone as Adrien hands the ring over to Marinette. Once the ring is in her hand, she closes her hand tightly so as if to make sure it will never disappear or leave her.

"I guess I should get going now, my father most likely already knows by now that I snuck out again. Thank you so much for doing this," Adrien says.

He leans over and leaves a soft kiss on her cheek.

"So we can remember to talk all about this after this ends," he says quietly.

He doesn't stay to watch for her reaction. Instead, he turns and leave before he loses the courage to carry out his plan. He doesn't look back at her but he is silently hoping that she stays safe. Silently hoping that he doesn't hurt her.

He makes sure to say goodbye to her parents as he leaves the bakery, promising to return soon. He knows after today, he'll be at this bakery much more often than he was before.

For the first time in a long time, he feels completely alone. He's so used to at least knowing that Plagg was there with him even when no one else was but now it's really just him.

It won't be for long though. Or at least he hopes so.

Adrien decides to head to the park. If he goes home, there's a good chance he'll have a much harder time leaving the next time. Also who knows what his father may do. He also knows that by now his bodyguard is out searching for him and is most likely checking all the places he usually goes to. He's not going to purposely walk right into the lion's den so instead he decided that the park was the best place.

Despite everything that is happening, today is a nice day. There's not a single cloud in the sky, the temperature is just right, and everyone is going about their day. It's a nice day to be out.

' _Enjoy it now because I have a feeling it won't last for too long.'_

The thought is more grim to him than he would have liked. It sucks that he doesn't have much faith in his own family tie. Even he knows that family means nothing when it comes to power. That's what he was raised around and that's what he knows. He highly doubts that his father will change that idea now all because his son is finally upset at him.

It takes all of fifteen minutes before his phone begins to ring. He checks and sees that it's his father.

He surprised that it took him this long to call. Maybe he expected him to be a bit easier to find.

He answers the phone, trying to be prepared for whatever he's about to hear.

"Yes father?" He answers.

" _Adrien, where are you? Not only have you been disrespectful but you broke my rules once again and left this house. I am ordering you that you either come back this instance willingly or you'll be forced back,"_ his father says.

Adrien clicks his tongue in response.

"I'll go back when I don't feel like I've been stabbed in the back by my own father every breathing second. So don't expect me home for a while," he replies.

The side of him that only ever comes out when he is Chat Noir is coming out more now. That bold, confident attitude where he can say whatever he wants without worrying about if he's being polite. That snarky attitude is making its way to his mouth and his father will experience it first hand.

" _You insolent ignorant boy, you keep talking about something you don't fully understand. If you would be mature and forget your fickle feelings long enough for me to explain then you would understand."_

"Understand? There is nothing to understand. There is no reason or logic you could say to justify what you have done and what you are doing."

The insults his father throws at him get under his skin. How dare his father make it seem as if he was the one who did the wrong? As if he betrayed his father instead of the other way around. It pricks at him and makes the jumble of emotions in him just become even more twisted.

" _After all I have done for you, you cannot believe me and understand that I know what's best for this family? You are just a child and a naïve one at that. Put aside the fit you are having and be the good obedient son you were raised to be."_

He just a naïve child. Put aside his fit. Be the good and obedient son he was raised to be. How those words light a fire underneath him. It's all he's ever heard when it came to both Nathalie and his father. He just had to be the perfect son. No one to love him or care for him but he had to be perfect for the world to see. He's a display not a person.

In this situation it's even worse. He has to be perfect even though he's been lied to and hurt by his own father. He is expected to go along with everything because he knows nothing and his emotions are trivial. He supposed to agree with the hurting of people all because his father said so.

He's being treated like a child even though his whole world was just turned upside-down thanks to his father's power hungriness. Once again he is getting pushed to the back and ignored.

"I am tired of being your perfect son. I'm not naïve. I'm not ignorant. I am not throwing a child's tantrum. You lied to me. You hurt me. I deserve the right to be upset," Adrien growls.

His father sighs and for a moment is silent. It isn't a thoughtful silence however. Not a silence of remorse or consideration. No, it's a silence of exasperation.

With each passing second of silence, Adrien feels more of his anger surfacing. He's usually so good at controlling it but this time he can't swallow these emotions down. There are too many.

Eventually, his father speaks.

" _Soon you will see that I know what I am doing. Understand that you brought this upon yourself, I gave you the option to be peaceful and obedient,"_ his father says.

At first, Adrien doesn't understand what his father means. If he thinks that he can be dragged back and made to understand then he's completely wrong.

But as his eyes begin to look around to see if his gorilla of a bodyguard was coming, all his eyes land on is a black and purple butterfly flying towards him.

A sickening realization comes over him in a nauseating wave. His father really is willing to go this far.

"You used my emotions to find me. You angered me on purpose," he says plainly, though he's clenching his fist so hard that he's sure he's going to draw blood.

" _I told you you are a child,"_ is the response he gets.

A child to be played with and used are the words he hears though. That's the underlying meaning of his father's words.

He glares at the butterfly as it slowly approaches him. His hand moves to the photo in his pocket, gripping it with anger and determination.

As the akuma gets closer to him, he decides to say one last thing before he hangs up and this nightmare begins.

"You'll regret using me, _Hawk Moth_."

The akuma lands in his photo as he presses the end button. A cold feeling, colder than he thought it would be, washes over him. It is then he hears the voice clearer than he ever has before.

" _Adrien Agreste, so full of emotions you always hide. Tired of being ignored but never speaks up. Always reminded that you are a child. Prove me wrong. Get me Ladybug's and Chat Noir's Miraculouses and prove to everyone that you know what you're doing."_

Adrien bares his teeth in a scowl at the voice.

"I am not your puppet. I'll make you beg me for those Miraculouses."

" _Go forth and show to me what you can do Reb-"_

"My name is Adrien. Let the name you never cared about be the one that proves you wrong."

A consuming black-purple crawls over him until he's completely covered. When it disappears it leaves a new Adrien or, what Hawk Moth was going to call him, Rebel. He stands clad in a black outfit that almost looks princely. It looks prim and proper just like how he's supposed to be. But it's violently disrupted by the blaring red his flowing belt, red boots and gloves, red mask, and his unruly golden hair. It's so wild it makes Chat look tamed. His green eyes, no longer friendly, are cold and more piercing than ever before.

A twisted smirk finds its way to his face as he looks at the open area around him.

 _It's time to show Paris what real rebellion is._

"Let's see what these powers can do, shall we," he says to himself.

With that he's off, green eyes scanning and looking for the right person.

He jumps from tree to tree, watching as the people of Paris continue their day completely unaware of what is going to happen.

' _Surprises; who doesn't love a good surprise?'_ He thinks.

It doesn't take him long to stop on one of the trees and look down with a distorted excitement.

His eyes land on the sight in front of him, a young smiling child playing with their friend as their mothers watch them and animatedly talk to each other.

"How cute," he mockingly coos.

With a light gesture of the hand towards the children he says two words, "Now fight."

In an instance, the two kids are screaming and yelling at each other, calling each other names and breaking each other's toys. When their mothers come up to them to see what went wrong, the kids stop and, in an almost ironic teamwork, begin throwing dirt up at their mothers.

"Ahh rebellion at a young age, a lovely sight," Adrien says and walks away from the scene.

He guesses his powers aren't so bad. He thought Hawk Moth, as an adult, would give him the short end of the stick as they usually do and leave him with a worthless ability, one that will only get him what he wants. After all, adults do only look out for themselves. They do what they want and expects the youth to follow along blindly and be good. But now he can turn that all around. He'll show adults what real anarchy looks like.

"Ready or not, here I come."

It's the sound of shouting and things breaking that snaps Marinette out of the trance she was currently in.

She quickly puts the ring in her hand in a small box and hides it in a safe spot. It's better if she doesn't have Chat's ring while she's Ladybug, just in case. She rushes from her room and goes down to the bakery where the noise is coming from.

She stops short in surprise when she sees the pure chaos that is happening.

Teens, kids, and even toddlers are everywhere and they are completely trashing everything. Flipping tables, throwing sweets, dumping trash, it's an out of control zoo in here.

She rushes into the kitchen and look around for her parents. She spots them crouched down, peeking out from behind the counter.

"Mama, Papa, what's going on? Why are they doing that?" She asks.

She walks over to them and gets down to their level, hiding along with them.

"We don't know. One minute everything is calm and the next the bakey is filled and they started wrecking everything," her mother replies.

Why would that many people suddenly decide to wreck the bakery? A mob maybe? Party gone bad? Food fight that took a left turn?

Marinette takes out her phone and dials Alya's number. If anyone would know something, it would be her best friend.

Alya picks up after the first ring.

" _Oh my goodness Marinette, are you okay?"_ Alya asks.

Marinette can tell that she is running and fast.

"I'm fine but there are people trashing the bakery. It's a madhouse over here. Are you okay? Why are you running?" She responds.

" _It's happening where you're at too? He's moving quick. You won't believe what's going on. I was just with my little sisters getting ice cream and I turn away for one second and next thing I know, they're running wild, attacking the ice cream cart. I only caught a glimpse but it looks like there's another akumatized person. He started to turn to me but I ran away as fast as I can,"_ Alya explains.

Another akumatized villain?

Marinette gets a sinking feeling in her stomach as she begins to piece together what's going on.

"Did you see anything about him? How do you know he's akumatized?" She asks.

" _Trust me Marinette, you know once you catch sight of him. All I saw was that he was like our age, dressed in mainly black and a little red, and has golden hair. Just from the glance I got I can tell he's not just dressing up. He was staring at the twins as they eat the ice cream like monsters. I know he was the cause. I hope he didn't see me,"_ Alya replies.

An akumatized villain that looks their age and has golden hair? She knows exactly who it is. It makes her heart jump to her throat and tears burn her eyes.

Adrien was akumatized. His dad really did do it; he really akumatized his own son.

The thought makes her heart hurt. Adrien, sweet, kind, respectful, selfless Adrien, not only found out the worst news of his life today but now his own father turned him into a villain who is now attacking Paris. She knows that akumatized victims don't remember what they did while they were a villain but Adrien is different. Knowing that he was akumatized to begin with will hurt him. He'll probably feel guilty or angry or hurt, or maybe all three. He doesn't deserve that.

"Make sure you find a safe place to hide. Ladybug and Chat Noir will probably be there soon to help. Promise me you won't try to get pictures this time," Marinette says to Alya.

Alya gives a huff that sounded less like she's out of breath and more like she's disappointed that she can't try to take pictures for her blog.

" _Fine, fine, I promise I won't take pictures. You stay safe too. I hope the bakery can hold up a bit longer,"_ she replies.

They say goodbye to each other and Marinette turns back to her parents.

"I'm going to try and clear out the bakery and then I'm going to go out," Marinette says.

"But why? Didn't you tell Alya to stay hidden? Why would you go outside through all of this?" Her father asks.

Marinette gives her parents a sad smile.

"Adrien came here because he was upset and wanted my help but then he was forced to leave. I'm worried Papa. He's out there and he may be in trouble too just like Ayla. I want to help my friends," she says.

Her parents both give her a fond look of proudness and understanding. Even if she didn't have such a big crush on the boy, they know she would do the same because she always helps her friends no matter what.

They give her a nod of approval and she leans in and give them a big hug.

"I promise to be back safe and sound," she says.

She stands up and look back out into the wild crowd in their bakery.

The best way to clear a mob? Give them something to run from.

She walks into the crowd and as loudly as she can yells, "THE POLICE ARE COMING!"

In an instant people are running out of the door, picking up toddlers along with whatever else they brought in, and getting away as fast as they can.

She smiles proudly at her accomplishment. If it's one thing she knows it's that all wild parties fall apart once there's a threat of getting caught.

"Now that that's done, it's time for Ladybug to make an appearance," she says quietly to herself.

She goes outside and around to an alleyway.

"Tikki spots on!"

A flurry of red comes and when it disappears it leaves Ladybug in its place.

"I'm coming Adrien."

She swings away in search of him.

In the air, she can see the chaos that is running through Paris. She sees as adults hide while the younger people practically destroy whatever they can. If she thought the bakery looked bad then she was wrong. That was nothing compared to what she's looking at now.

But it does tell her something. Considering that no adults are going crazy, his power must only affect a certain age group and below. That means she has to be extra careful unless she wants to go berserk herself, and an out of control Ladybug is not a good idea.

She continues to swing in the general direction of where the people seem to be running from, hoping to catch a glimpse of Adrien. Alya wasn't wrong, he is moving quickly. She's never seen so many people affected this quickly considering what he's doing is most likely not contagious in some way.

She finally catches a glimpse of bright red and yellow and she knows she's found him. She lands on a roof to prepare herself.

Seeing him hurts more than she thought it would.

While she's glad he doesn't look monstrous in any way, to see how close to himself he looks hurts. Maybe it's because she knows it's him but that mask and wild hair reminds her of Chat. His mischievous smile grips at her heart. He looks like he's enjoying this pandemonium and she knows deep down inside that he wished he could actually be this rebellious towards his father.

"Alright Marinette, he's counting on you. You can't let him down," she says to herself.

She slaps her cheeks lightly and then goes down to him.

He doesn't miss her arrival.

"Ladybug, how nice of you to join me. I was wondering when you were going to show up," he says casually.

She ignores the tremble in her knees. Right now she isn't Marinette the student who has the biggest crush on a boy in her class. She's Ladybug, the city's hero, and she's going to save her friend and partner.

"Adrien? Adrien Agreste? Is that really you?" She asks carefully.

He gives her a half surprised half amused look.

"I'm surprised you recognized me, kudos to you. Yes it's me, but I'm sure Hawk Moth would prefer me to call myself Rebel. He has such a lack of creativity in these names," he replies, saying the name with mockery and disgust.

His voice sounds similar but also very different. Definitely more chilling but there something else to it that she can't quite place. It makes her uneasy.

"I know this isn't who you are, let me help you please. I just need the item the akuma is in and then you're free," she says, stretching out her hand.

He seems to consider something as he stares at her hand. Then a purple butterfly mask appears over his eyes and he bares his teeth.

Ladybug pulls her hand away, afraid that Hawk Moth is taking control again.

Adrien suddenly snaps his head back to her with a scowl and she knows that is not a good sign.

"It's always you two. That's all he cares about. He doesn't care about how many people's lives he wreck as long as he get your stupid Miraculouses. Where is your precious little kitty anyway? Waiting for the right time to sneak up on me?" He hisses.

The hostility in his voice is not just the akuma's work and Marinette knows that. It's a feeling that he actually has, that his father focuses more on Ladybug and Chat Noir than he does his own son. It's a stab to the heart no doubt and a good reason to be pissed off.

But it seems, however, that he doesn't remember that he is Chat Noir, or if he does he's pretending not to know maybe to screw over his father.

"I told him to stay back. I've met you a few times before and I know that you are a sweet person. I'm not here to fight you, I just want to help you," she says.

He smirks at her deviously and she knows that isn't good.

"If you want to help me then stay still as I defeat you. Your loyal pet will definitely come to save you if I take your Miraculous," he responds.

He charges at her and she tries not to be surprised at how quick he moves. She almost doesn't duck in time as he throws a punch at her.

In all honesty, she wasn't expecting him to fight hand to hand. Most akumatized villains have some form of weapon they use or a power that prevents her from fighting close range. She was not expecting Adrien to actually charge at her.

"Aww, I thought you wanted to help me. What's wrong, are you afraid?" He taunts.

He charges at her again and she doesn't have much time to do anything but jump out of the way.

"Adrien, you don't want to do this. We don't have to fight, please. We can just talk about this can't we?" She says.

"No can do Ladybug, those who only talk never get heard. You have to cause a scene to get what you want. Don't worry though, I'm perfect in different types of fighting so if you're too afraid to face me hand to hand we could always go sword to sword. Either way I'll beat you," he responds.

Ladybug hesitantly puts her hands up in a stance of defense. She knows if this turns into a fencing match then she will definitely lose against him. But she also knows that he is no rookie when it comes to fighting, he knows kung fu for goodness sake, so she shouldn't let her guard down no matter what.

"Good choice," he says.

This time she keeps her eyes focused on him as he rushes towards her. She doesn't go on the offensive, though she couldn't if she wanted to with how quick he's attacking, and just continues to block and dodge as many hits as she can.

Unfortunately, he is more trained in fighting and finds a flaw she wasn't thinking about. He swings his leg towards her side and she blocks it last minute using both of her hands due to the amount of force he used. He quickly switches positions, both feet back on the ground before she can realize it, and throws a punch directly at her jaw. The force from the contact sends her stumbling back.

She tries to ignore the screaming pain she feels in her mouth and makes a mental note to not let him get that close to her again or she will end up with something broken.

She stands up on unsteady feet. While this isn't her first time getting hit in her hero career, it is her first time actually being worried to continue the fight. She's going to have to use her yo-yo on him sooner or later because she doesn't stand an even fight against him. It was hard enough to fight against him when he was Chat and he was mind controlled like with Dark Cupid. But now she's not fighting Chat, she's fighting Adrien who knew he was going to get akumatized and is hurting more so than anything. Her heart is getting in the way of her hurting him and she can't find it within herself to be mad about that.

She's stuck between a rock and a hard place. If she doesn't fight back, Hawk Moth will know he made a smart choice in using Adrien and will probably try to keep using him. Adrien would be the closest he's ever gotten to gaining the Miraculouses and he won't forget that. But if she does fight back then she's hurting Adrien and herself really. She knows her Lucky Charm fixes everything but that still doesn't make her feel any better about actually attacking him.

He comes at her again and, in a subconscious moment of fear and indecisiveness, she swings her yo-yo at him. It's not close enough to hurt him but definitely close enough to give a warning.

"Oh, so we're using weapons now? I must have you cornered then," Adrien says with a smirk.

She tries to feign confidence as she says, "I'm just trying to see how versatile you are. The Adrien I met knows how to go with the flow."

This gets him to get out of a defensive position and straighten up considerably with a smug look.

She wonders if he has always been that tall or if the intimidating factor to him is adding to how tall he looks. Either way, he's much taller than her and the way he has to look down to her is anything but comforting.

"Testing me, are you? I already told you, I'm perfect in many forms; I was made to be. But if you really want to find out for yourself then I don't want to disappoint you," he responds.

The look he gives her tells her that what's about to happen isn't going to be good. She needs a plan and needs one now. But she'll have a hard time thinking of one if she's busy trying to keep him at a distance.

Distance. That what she needs. This has to be less of a fight and more of a chase if she wants to have time to think of something. But how does she make sure that he chases her and not just go off to cause more trouble?

He seems interested in her especially when she called him his name. He attacked her when Hawk Moth told him something about her, probably reminding him why he has these powers currently. He didn't seem to like the reminder and that's why he attacked her.

That gives her an idea.

"That's a lot of confidence coming from you, _Rebel_."

The name has the intended effect she wanted. He scowls at her and his whole demeanor changes from confident and cocky to angered and displeased.

"That's _**not**_ my name," he says through clenched teeth.

She smirks, though it's a fake one hiding her fear, and swings her yo-yo round and round.

"Are you sure about that? I'm pretty sure Hawk Moth gave you that name. What's wrong, don't like it, Rebel?" She taunts.

His expression darkens even more and she knows she is pushing his buttons. She hopes she doesn't come to regret this.

"Stop calling me that or else. You know my name," he says forcefully.

A purple butterfly mask appears once again around his eyes. She can only assume that Hawk Moth is probably warning him about something. It's not hard to see that she's provoking him on purpose. Ladybug always has a plan, even when it's a plan to make a plan.

But it seems Adrien is going to live up to the name Hawk Moth gave him.

"Get out of my head. I'll do what I want with her," he growls aloud.

He looks back at Ladybug with a fierceness that puts her on ice. She's really about to push her luck.

"Oh don't be like that, it's your job to follow his orders. Come on, get my Miraculous like the good boy you are. Or are you going to be like your name and be a Rebel?" She taunts.

His jaw clenches so tightly that she's almost afraid his teeth will break.

' _Yup, definitely angered him.'_

"When I get my hands on you, I'll make sure you never forget who you're going against," he threatens.

He takes a menacing step towards her and she takes it as her cue to leave.

She swings her yo-yo and says to him, "Gotta catch me first, REBEL," and then swings away as fast as she can.

As expected, he gives chase after her.

As she swings from building to building, praying she can keep this distance between them, she tries to come up with an idea.

' _I don't know how Chat can constantly play bait. This is quite terrifying if you ask me. I need to come up with a plan before he catches up with me.'_

She doesn't fail to notice the trail of chaos that follows him as he chases after her. Everyone in his immediate area, minus the adults of course, is affected by his powers and goes absolutely wild.

She has to end this soon before all of Paris is affected by this uncontrollable rebellion.

' _Think LB, what can you do to stop this? You already know where the akuma is but the trouble is reaching it without getting a beat down from him. How do you get closer to him?'_

She tries to rack her brain all while trying to stay far ahead of him. She doesn't want to figure out what he'll do if he catches her. She'd never thought she'd see the day where she's actually _afraid_ of her partner. Then again, she never thought the day would come where her partner was akumatized.

As she's swinging away, she passes the bakery and is glad to see that it looks relatively calm.

She almost trips on practically nothing, however, when she sees Adrien slow down just a tad bit as he passes it himself. She notices his brief glance towards her home and what she will assume is him looking towards her window. It's not until he realizes that she is getting further away does he continue his chasing pace.

This gets the gears in her head turning.

Akumatized people usually do remember certain people. Normally, it's the person who did them wrong and caused the negative feelings within them. But sometimes it can be someone important to them, like how Evillustrator remembered that he had a crush on Marinette.

Maybe Adrien remembers her, civilian her. Maybe he remembers something about Marinette and that's what made him slow down.

If that's the case then maybe it's possible that she could get closer to him as Marinette. He's angry with Ladybug but maybe he'll be sparing with Marinette. It's risky but it's her best shot.

The question now is how to make Ladybug disappear and Marinette appear without giving any hints to her identity. The last thing she needs is to have Hawk Moth knowing who she is outside of costume.

' _What if I use my Lucky Charm? That way Ladybug would have to disappear and it gives an excuse for Marinette to appear.'_

She's sure she can make up an excuse for Marinette being around then. Adrien most likely knows that Ladybug's Miraculous will time out after her Lucky Charm is used so it gives a good reason for Ladybug to go into hiding.

It's the only plan she has so she hopes it works.

"Lucky Charm!"

What falls down in her hands is a firecracker, one of those harmless ones that act more like a flash bomb than anything.

She looks around to see if this is a one step charm or if there's more to it. She gets a clue and now knows what to do.

She jumps down to the street and waits for Adrien to close in on her.

When he gets a good distance, she lights the cracker, shielding her eyes and jumping away before all of the brighter lights appear.

Adrien wasn't so fortunate and got caught up in the too bright display.

As he tries to shields his eyes, she uses her yo-yo and knocks open the hydrant valve, spraying Adrien with cold water, and plenty of it.

With blinding light and semi pressured water, he's too distracted to keep chasing after her immediately. She uses that to her advantage and gets away.

She looks around for the perfect place, knowing it won't be too long until he picks up on the trail she's leaving. While she does need him to follow her, she doesn't want this reunion to be so soon.

She finally spots a museum and it's just the right spot she needs. As she enters in, she finds it to already be cleared out.

"Perfect. Tikki, spots off," she says.

She de-transforms and she's Marinette once again.

"Now time to find a hiding spot until he comes," she says to herself.

She decided on one of the smaller exhibits rooms that have two sets of doors, which will definitely be needed for an escape.

She waits until he finally arrives at the museum. His arrival is not one someone can miss.

"Come out wherever you are Ladybug. We have some more _**talking**_ to do," he calls out.

She can hear it in his voice, he is not pleased with the impromptu bath she gave him.

It doesn't take long for him to enter the room she's in, doors closing behind him with a deafening sound.

He knows she went in here.

He followed her trail but it isn't Ladybug he'll be seeing.

"Where are you, little bug? I thought you wanted to talk to me. What happened to helping me out?" He says aloud.

She watches him from behind a column, heartbeat speeding up even though she's not Ladybug right now. He doesn't have reason to harm Marinette but that may not stop him from using his powers on her. That would be really bad if he did.

As he walks past her hiding spot, she lets out an audible breath, half on purpose half in a reaction.

It only took a second before green eyes were staring her down.

"Well, what do we have here? Now what would you be doing here, hmm Marinette?" He questions, the smirk now returned to his face.

Well at least she was right about two things: he remembered her and he's not hostile with her.

"Oh uh Adrien h-hi. Funny meeting you here haha," she says, her nervous tendency coming to her naturally.

He raises an eyebrow at her and moves closer to her. She takes a step back, adding to her 'nervous civilian' role.

"You're the second person to recognize me. Just what are you doing here? I thought you knew to stay indoors when there's danger," he says, voice taking a tone she usually hears when Chat is messing with her.

She fiddles with her fingers and looks away a bit from his gaze.

"Well I…I was just…looking around ya know. I saw Ladybug and you and she called you by your name so I may have…I may have followed you and her," she responds, voice going softer to the end.

Her response really catches his attention and causes him to move closer to her to the point where he's leaning over her and she's trapped between him and the column.

"Oh really now? You were following me? Any reason you decided to follow the big bad scary villain? Seeking a thrill?" He questions.

Seeing him this close to her makes her heart skip more beats than medically healthy. His eyes are just so piercing, it's almost frightening. And once again, she wonders if he has always been this tall compared to her.

But she has his attention. And he hasn't used his power on her so far so this is going in her favor it seems.

She turns her head away from him fully, avoiding any eye contact.

He doesn't seem to want that.

"You're not going to answer me? I thought we were friend Mari. Are you really going to treat me so coldly?" He says.

He leans down and nuzzles her cheek gently. The motion causes her breath to hitch.

Akumatized or not, this is still Adrien and he just nuzzled her.

"Come on, you can tell me. Why risk the chaos just to follow me? I don't bite you know. Hard, that is," he says.

To make a point, he lightly nips at her neck and she swears she's going to melt. She doesn't know why he's doing this, and while it's better than him wanting to fight her, it's definitely not what she was prepared for.

"Alya told me there was an akuma attack. I-I wanted to make sure you-you were alright," she breathes out, trying very hard to ignore the sensation his mouth in her is causing.

He's apparently pleased with the answer because he hums against her neck, the vibration running through her.

"Aww how sweet, you were worried about me. Maybe after I grab Ladybug's Miraculous, I can spend some time with you before her kitty shows up. I promise it'll be fun," he says.

Marinette tries to keep her composure. She wasn't expecting Adrien to get this…flirtatious with her. She was not prepared to have him _this_ close to her. But she still has a job to do and she still is a hero. Anxiety and crushes aside, she still has to help him.

So, before she loses whatever little courage she has, she does the first thing she thinks of to distract him.

With red cheeks, she slams her mouth onto his. She can tell he wasn't expecting it but it only takes him a beat before he takes control over the kiss. Wild, demanding, and straight out unrestrained are words she would use to describe this kiss. His force makes her already hurting jaw hurt more but yet it's not as painful as it should be. She almost loses herself in the assertiveness of it.

But her will to save him is stronger than anything he could put in this kiss.

Her hands trail down to his waist to his belt. She tugs at it, pulling him closer to her and deepening the kiss. It distracts him to the point where he doesn't even notice her playing with his belt anymore.

When she finishes what she was doing with his belt, she moves her hands up to where the picture would be. To where the akuma should be. What feels like her feeling up his chest is really her stealing that picture from his pocket.

Now here comes the risky part. No, the **dangerous** part because she's in civilian form.

Let's hope Ladybug's luck spills over to Marinette if only for this moment.

She pulls away quickly and ducks under his arms, sprinting off with the photo. To make a believable show she starts to shout.

"Ladybug! Ladybug, I got the picture!"

At her shouts, Adrien finally snaps out of the trance that he was just in.

He notices the picture in her hand and realizes that she only kissed him to distract him. He vaguely hears Hawk Moth yelling at him to go after her but he already had his mind set on chasing her. As he tries to run after her though, he is pulled back thanks to his belt being tied to the column. He glares at the offending article and growls.

"MARINETTE!" He yells.

The angry yell makes Marinette want to hide forever but she knows that's not an option. She just has to get far enough so he won't hear or see her transform.

She keeps on running, not missing when the sound of his rapid footsteps appear, telling her that he freed himself from her makeshift trap and he is after her.

"You can run but I'll catch you no matter where you go! Let's see how helpful you are to your precious hero when you can't help but rebel," he shouts.

Marinette wonders if it's possible that he actually sounds angrier now than he did when Ladybug was taunting him. She's seriously been playing a dangerous game today. When all of this is over, she's going to have to have a serious talk about Chat's ability to run head first into danger. Her heart won't be able to take it after today.

She sharply turns into another exhibit and she doesn't think she's ever said the words 'Spots on" so quickly in her life.

She thanks whatever luck she has that she was able to transform before Adrien came bursting in the room right after her.

His eyes narrow when he catches sight of her.

"I see you decided to show your face. Using a civilian to do your dirty work, how unhero-like of you," he says.

His anger is hidden in his words and she knows she has to be very careful from here on out.

"While it wasn't preferred, she was following us and clearly wanted to help you. I told you I didn't want to fight," she replies.

"So you send her to seduce me so she can tie me up to give you time to do your little magic trick. How clever of you. Now where is she?" He says, sarcasm turning into venom.

It takes all of her willpower to not flinch at his tone when asking for Marinette. She's sure she's going to have bad dreams about that chilling voice of his.

"She's somewhere safe and away from you. I wouldn't intentionally keep her here after risking herself to face you," she says, fingers subconsciously still gripping around the photo.

Adrien's face distorts in anger more than she has ever seen from him today. Along with rebellion, he has a lot of anger in him, she's noticed.

"You used her _**AGAINST**_ me!" He snarls.

He pounces at her like the cat he secretly is and his hands came a hair's width away from her throat before she moves away.

Forget just taking her Miraculous, he's trying to seriously harm her.

Remembering the photo in her hands, she quickly rips it in half before he can rush at he again.

A little black butterfly comes out from within it and she moves to deakumatize it faster than ever before.

"No more evil doing for you, little akuma. Time to de-evilize!"

She swings her yo-yo and catches the akuma with ease.

"Gotcha!"

A white little butterfly flies away into the sky and she doesn't think she has ever been so relieved to see that.

"Bye-bye, little butterfly," she waves to it with relief.

She calls for a lucky charm, which just happens to be a ring, reminding her that she's getting her kitty back, and tosses it into the air.

"Miraculous Ladybug!"

As if it was her first time seeing the magic again, bright feelings fill her chest as she watches all of the ladybugs spread and reverse the damage that happened.

But what's even better to watch is Adrien returning back to his former self.

Her moment of joy is cut short though when he falls to his knees with a whimper. She rushes over to him and holds him up as much as he's willing to move.

"Adrien, what's wrong? Are you hurt?" She asks.

The magic should have fixed everything. Heck, her jaw doesn't even hurt anymore and that was no light punch.

"I remember everything."

The words come out with dread and fear. They make her stomach do a flip and her blood stop cold.

"You-you remember?" She asks worriedly.

No one ever remembers what happened during the time they were akumatized. How could he?

"I can see it, everything I did. I can hear every word I said," he says.

His body lightly trembles in her arms. Either he's going into shock or the fear is starting to get to him, but neither is good. She needs to get him out of here and somewhere where they can talk properly.

"Hold on Adrien, I'm taking you home," she says.

She picks up his trembling body and runs off with him. She needs to get home as soon as possible, before her Miraculous actually times out. When she gets outside, she switches the position she is holding him in so she could swing with him easier. She swings as fast as she can and doesn't stop until she's like a block away from her house. She lands in an alleyway and drops her transformation.

"Come on, Adrien, we're almost there," she says, lightly grabbing his hand.

His body almost feels like dead weight as she pulls him along. The lost look in his eyes tells her that the memory is just replaying in his head like a movie he doesn't need to see. It tears her apart to see that look on his face.

When she finally gets him to the bakery, her parents immediately come up to them.

"Oh thank goodness you're back. We were being to worry that you got caught out there," her mother says.

Her father looks over to Adrien with a concerned look.

"Are you alright son?" He asks.

Marinette gives a sad look to them in response.

"He was the one who was akumatized, Papa," she says softly.

Both her parents give sympathetic looks to him. Such a sweet boy like himself shouldn't have to go through that.

"We're going up to talk if that's okay," Marinette says.

"Oh of course sweetheart. If either of you need anything let us know. We're here okay," her mother responds.

Marinette nods and leads Adrien all the way up to her room. She closes the hatch behind them and then sits him down on her chaise. The very first thing she does once he is seated is go gets his ring and gently puts it back on him.

Once the ring is on his finger, a very worried Plagg appears.

"Adrien, you alright?" Plagg asks.

Tikki joins Marinette in watching from behind Plagg, letting the kwami talk to his charge first.

"I remember everything, Plagg. I see everything I did," Adrien responds.

As if saying the words aloud for the second time finally breaks the daze he was in, his whole posture crumbles and his head drops into his hands.

"I remember hearing his voice. I remember seeing people run away from me. I remember fighting and hurting Ladybug. I remember cornering Marinette. I remember it all," he says, sounding so dejected.

Marinette subconsciously rubs her jaw, feeling the phantom pain that suddenly appeared there. She wishes that was something he definitely did not remember.

"It's going to be alright, we'll get through this like we always do," Plagg says.

The kwami lands himself in Adrien's hair and tries to soothe him as much as he can.

"Why can I remember Plagg? I thought victims have no memory of it so why do I remember everything?" Adrien asks.

His voice breaks a little and it sounds like he's on the verge of tears.

This is the pain he was really feeling. When he came to Marinette earlier today, even he knew he was hiding his feelings and pretending that everything is okay, just like how Chat does. But now he can't hide it. The feelings that were being covered by anger are now showing its place.

Tikki moves a bit closer to him, also wanting to comfort him.

"It seems that He used a bit more of Nooroo's power this time to make sure you keep your memory," she says shyly, hating to be the one to say bad news.

She hugs his cheek as she sees him deflate even more. He just looks so broken.

"I knew he was going to use me but I didn't think it would be like that. I thought that he would go a bit easy on me because I'm still his son and deep down inside he has to know that but clearly I was wrong. He even made sure to use a bit more powers to make sure I remember what I did. He probably wants the guilt to eat me alive so it'll be easier for him next time to use me," Adrien says.

Though no one says so aloud, they don't disagree with him. Hawk Moth would do something like that, especially considering that he has easy access to Adrien which makes it easier to manipulate his feelings. They can all see now that Gabriel Agreste is not below using his own son to achieve what he wants.

"I'm supposed to be Paris' great hero but here I am getting akumatized by my own father who happens to be Hawkmoth. I even used my power on little kids. I messed with so many people. Talk about not qualified to be a good hero," he says.

This causes Marinette to spring into action before either of them actually realizes it. In a quick second, she's over to him, holding his cheeks in her hands and making him look at her. The two kwamis move away to let Marinette talk to him.

"No, I don't want to hear you speak like that. You're human too and you have feelings. You found out the worse news of your life today, you had the right to feel horrible. And what you did was not you. That was Hawk Moth's doing, all of it. You are Chat Noir for a reason. You're brave, and selfless, and kind, and so many other things. I know my partner and there's no better person for the job than you," she says.

"But I hurt you. I actually hit you. And if that wasn't bad, I said terrible things to you and acted out of line with you. I was so aggressive with you," he says in response.

She knows he's talking about the kiss in that last part. It was an animalistic kiss, to say the least, but that's not his fault.

"You didn't hurt me, Rebel did, Hawk Moth did. NOT Adrien Agreste. You did not hurt me. And I knew what I was risking when I faced you as Marinette. I'm the one who kissed you despite how you were acting. I taunted you, angered you on purpose, and purposely put myself in close proximity of you while in civilian form. That was all me, Adrien, not you," she says.

When he tries to turn away from her she turns his head back to her and holds his face with a firmer grip. She stares him in his broken green eyes and she wants to do nothing but heal his pain.

"Don't turn away from me, please. This isn't your fault. What happened wasn't you. The Adrien I know would never harm anyone. The Adrien I know would never do anything bad to Ladybug. The Adrien I know would never force anything on a friend. That wasn't you. That wasn't the Adrien I know and love. Don't ever think that it was. The fact that you feel bad now shows that wasn't you. You did nothing wrong," she says.

She watches as his eyes widen a bit and she wonders what happened. Did she say something wrong?

"Love?" He whispers out with wide eyes.

Her words reply in her head and she realizes that she just told Adrien she loves him while trying to comfort him.

' _Oh crap.'_

"Love? Did I say love? Haha that's so funny because I thought I said-"

Her nervous prattle is cut short by him pulling her into a tight hug and burying his head into her shoulder.

"Tell me you mean it. Please tell me you meant to say love," he says, voice cracking once again.

His tight grip on her is desperate. Almost as if he's afraid she'll leave suddenly.

She slowly wraps her arms around him, immediately feeling the tension in his shoulders leave as she returns the embrace.

"Yeah, I meant it. I've been in love with you for a while now, just never had the courage to say it," she says with a timid chuckle.

Her words touch him deeper than she will ever know. They were the straw that broke the camel's back.

Tears begin to fall from his eyes as he holds her even tighter. He's not letting her go no matter what.

"Someone actually loves me? This isn't a joke, right? You aren't saying this to make me feel worse about hurting you, are you?" He asks.

She feels his wet tears begin to seep through her top. It seizes her heart more so than anything else that has happened today. He's crying. Always perfect Adrien Agreste, ever confident Chat Noir, is crying. He's insecure, he's broken, he's weak and he's clinging to her for dear life.

It washes away all apprehension she had and replaces it with the need to show this sunshine that he deserves to hear those words.

"Oh Minou, I mean it with everything I am and will ever be. If no one else does, even if your father doesn't, just know I do. I'm so proud of you. You have the craziest schedule, the coldest home, and the toughest job but yet you're still so kind. You stay on top of everything but never push it in others' faces. You do whatever you can to make a situation better and don't stop until you fix it. And I'm just talking about Adrien. Chat is just as wonderful. He saves Ladybug time and time again, he faces villains with a brave face, and he makes the worst puns ever that always make me feel better at bad times. I love you and you deserve to hear that more often. You're such a special person," she says, running her hand through his hair in a comforting motion.

"Mari…" he says in a broken cry.

She lets him sob on her shoulder, not stopping the motion of her hand in his hair. She counts every time his body has a particularly hard shake to it. She counts each time he gasps for air in between his tears. She makes sure to remember those numbers because that's going to be the number of times she tells him something positive about himself. She's going to say it until he never has to doubt again if there is someone in the world that thinks highly of him as a person and not as some celebrity.

She doesn't know how much time passes by. It could be ten minutes or an hour, but it felt like a lifetime as she held Adrien as he cried. She didn't move though. She stayed there and let him cry as he refused to let go of her. This is what he needed and she wasn't going to stop or disturb him.

When his shaking stops and so does the hiccups, his body becomes heavier and it's clear he cried all his energy away.

"I'm sorry for crying on you," he says, voice a bit hoarse from all the crying.

She gives a small smile in the mess of his hair in return.

"I'm glad you did. Sometimes it's good to cry; I'm glad you trusted me enough to do so in front of me," she replies.

He pulls his heavy body up, actually letting go of her after so long, and slowly meets her eyes. He raises a hand and hesitantly puts it on her cheek.

"I trust you more than anyone else in this world. Marinette was always there for me and Ladybug was always there for Chat Noir. I'm so glad I finally found you, My Lady," he says.

"I'm glad you found me too, kitty," Marinette responds, a fond look replacing her expression.

He gives her a faint smile but it still makes her feel a bit warmer inside. It's a step. That's all they have to do, take small steps. They'll figure it all out but for now they just have to take it one small step at a time.

"What do I do now? After successfully dampening your clothes that is," he says in an attempt to joke.

She smiles at his effort.

"I'll consider it as you returning the favor from when I gave you a bath earlier. But for now, you'll stay and have dinner with my family. We can play games or I could show you new designs or we can watch a movie. Whatever you want to do," she responds.

He's not leaving her house until he decides he wants to or until after dinner, whichever comes later. She's going to make sure that he feels better before he leaves, even if it's only a little bit.

"That's very nice of you, Marinette, but what if I'm called back soon?" He says, a slight frown appearing on his face.

She huffs and gives a pout that reminds him of Ladybug instantly.

"Then he'll have to go through my mother's broom, my father's rolling pin, and my needles. We won't dare let anyone take you back right now. What you need is a family's love and that's what you're going to get tonight," she responds.

She's serious too. She'll poke someone's eye out with a needle if she has to. That's if her parents don't beat her to it first.

To her delight, Adrien lets out a soft chuckle. It's quiet and airy but it makes her feel wonderful. He's laughing and that's the best thing that has happened so far.

"Thank you Mari, you're the best. You don't know how much this means to me," he says after his laughing settles down.

She knows that she must have that lovestruck puppy dog look again but she doesn't care. Let him see, he deserves to.

Adrien, on the other hand, is more than happy to see that look on her face. Someone actually cares for him truly. He hasn't been able to say that since his mother left but now he has his close friend, his partner, in front of him looking as if he was the sun to her sky. It's a wonderful thing to see and makes him feel feelings that he hasn't felt in a while.

"Anytime, Adrien. Now I'm going to tell Mama and Papa that you're staying for dinner," she says, standing up.

He grabs her hand before she can walk away and feels his cheeks tint a bit.

"Can you ask them if it's okay for me to stay the night as well? I don't want to go back just yet," he asks shyly.

The shyness is mixed with underlying sadness that Marinette doesn't miss. So in response, she moves back closer to him and rests her forehead on his.

"Of course I will. I'm sure they'll let you stay as long as you want," she says.

She smiles and it eases some of his tension away. Her smile gives him hope for brighter things.

"Thanks Princess."

He tilts his head upwards and places a gentle kiss on the corner of her mouth. He watches as a red slowly creeps to her cheeks but it's just all the more comforting to him.

"An-anything for you, Minou," she replies.

She moves away and this time he lets her go so she can talk to her parents.

As she opens the trap door, she looks back to him, blush and smile still on her face.

"Believe me Adrien, we're going to get through this. Together," she says.

She turns around and heads down to go find her parents.

Adrien smiles, grateful and relieved to have her reassurance. If there's anyone he would believe, it's her. He knows that she means it, she will work through this with him. They'll work through everything together; the new reveal, his father's identity, his feelings, his memories, their relationship, and everything else. They have each other and there's nothing they can't do as a team.

"I love you too, Marinette."


End file.
